Change of Venue
by etraytin
Summary: Josh can't sleep the night before the campaign kick-off in Manchester. Donna could sleep very well, if only it weren't for Josh. (Alternate filmed-but-replaced scene from Manchester Part II.)


Author's Note: This is a Tumblr promp from Anonymous who asked: "if you're still taking prompts could you maybe write how that scene tommy and aaron described that was cut from manchester part ii? it sounds so good i wish we could see it! i would love to read your take on what it could be."

The scene that Anon is referring to here is from a post that went around a few days ago (I can't show the link here, but you can see it at my Tumblr or on AO3, where I am also ETraytin) about how Josh and Donna's morning discussion in Manchester II was originally a middle-of-the-night scene with him invading her room while ranting and eating gummy bears. Here is my take on what that scene might have been like, if life and television were just a little tiny bit kinder to us shippers.

(Disclaimer: This story contains dialogue taken verbatim from the West Wing episode Manchester Part II. No commercial use is being made and all rights remain with their owners.)

…...

Donna loved the quaint little hotel in Manchester. She loved the quirky architecture, she loved the claw-footed bathtubs and the oval mirrors in the bathrooms. Most of all she loved how when she climbed into bed and slid between the pristine white sheets at the end of an incredibly long and exhausting day, the laundry detergent smelled fussy and floral just like the stuff her grandmother had used back in Michigan when she'd been very little. She checked her alarm clock one last time before closing her eyes, drifting to sleep almost instantly from sheer tiredness and good sense memories.

Approximately five seconds later, the door to her room burst open. Donna did not love the way this hotel did not have automatic door locks. She was pretty sure it wasn't even legal. That, however, was the furthest thing from her mind as a heavy body leapt into her bed, missing her own body by inches and crushing her lovely pile of down comforter entirely flat. She flailed around a bit, but was effectively pinned down by her own blankets. "Donna!" At the sound of Josh's voice, all of the adrenaline that had poured into her system flooded away just as abruptly. "Donna, we're blowing this RU-486 thing!"

She buried her head in the pillow and mumbled that she hated him, but apparently he didn't hear her. He'd stretched out next to her, propping himself on one arm so he could look down at her and babble. "I'm serious! It's entirely the wrong move! We're gonna look like we're kicking off the campaign by pandering to women's groups!" He was eating something chewy while he talked, but she couldn't tell what.

Donna opened her eyes and lifted her head just enough to glance over at the clock. "It's three in the morning, Josh," she complained. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I am in bed, Donna," Josh explained with the air of someone stating the truly obvious, then shoved a handful of whatever he was eating into his mouth. Donna put her head under her pillow, but found it was not conducive to breathing. She withdrew her head just in time for her boss to finish chewing and be off again. "There's not even a question that most voters are pro-choice, but the ones that aren't are gonna devote their lives and money to beating us! 'Guns don't kill people, Bartlet does!"

"You smell like Fruit Loops," Donna muttered.

He showed her the tattered remains of a very large bag of gummy bears. She made a clumsy swipe for it, but he pulled away too quickly. "It's gonna look like we screwed up the timing, so the press is going to write about the process instead of the issues, and getting political reporters to write about issues in the first place is like getting kids to eat their vegetables!"

Donna finally opened her eyes wide enough to get a look at him in the dim light coming from her bathroom. His eyes were almost feverishly bright, and he was breathing fast. "Are you sick? She put a hand on his forehead, but he didn't feel hot. Warm and smooth and just a little sweaty. His brow furrowed under her fingertips, and she realized she'd left her hand there a moment longer than necessary. She pulled it away.

Josh frowned at her. "Don't you want to know how it's like getting kids to eat their vegetables?"

"If it were up to you, you'd shove it straight down their throats?" Donna guessed drowsily.

"I was gonna say it helps if there's nothing else on their plate, but that works too," he allowed, finally subsiding a little. He rolled to lay flat on his back next to her, and she resisted the half-conscious urge to check his breathing sounds or remind him that he should sleep on his side. It had been a long time since she'd watched him sleep in the hospital or kept an eye on him his first few nights at home. He was better now. He really, absolutely should not be in her bed now. If anybody were to catch them like this they'd be dead meat, despite Josh still being clothed all the way to his shoes and loosened tie. Which was, now that she thought about it, very weird for the hour.

"Why weren't you sleeping?" she asked, reaching out to tap his shoulder.

He turned abruptly onto his side, and this time their faces were only inches apart, her hand on his chest instead of his shoulder.. "I know I could stop this thing," he insisted. "One phone call! The President's not even involved! 'Could you do us a favor, could you hold off two weeks? We love your drug but we don't want it folded into our news cycle!'" His voice was getting louder now, enough that Donna spared a thought for the thickness of the walls. Old buildings had thick walls, right? "I could've picked up the phone, I could've picked up the phone, I could've-"

She put her fingertips over his mouth, gently silencing him. "Josh?"

He went absolutely still under her hand, vibrating energy, a bomb about to go off. She tensed in response, and suddenly the fight seemed to leave him all at once. He closed his eyes. "God..." he mumbled against her fingers.

Donna took her hand away from his mouth and rested it on his cheek. Too intimate a gesture, everything about this was, really. No matter what idle fantasies she'd entertained, this wasn't the relationship they had. But it was three in the morning and he was here in her bed, and the look on his face was about to break her heart. "What's this about?"

Josh's face crumpled as he blew out his breath in a sigh. His hand came up to cover hers and hold it against his face. "I blew the tobacco thing," he admitted, his voice low. "That could've helped us, and I was..." He opened his eyes, tightened his fingers around hers. "This is going to be a very close election."

She looked into his eyes for a minute, the color of them nearly lost in the darkness but the shape familiar and comfortable. "I know," she agreed with a small smile, "but it'll be okay. I believe in you." Donna leaned in and kissed his forehead, letting her lips rest against his skin for just a moment or two before drawing back. "You need to sleep," she reminded him.

He stared back at her for a minute, but then rose obediently from her bed. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she didn't think she'd made anything worse, at least. "You set the wake-up call for me?"

"I did," she confirmed, then with a deft swipe, grabbed the gummy bears out of his hand. "And no more sugar! Make sure you get a shower and shave as soon as you get up."

"Yes mom," he dutifully agreed as he turned to leave, but she could hear some humor in it again. That was good. With a very difficult campaign ahead of them and CJ already looking like she was going to quit, they all needed Josh in top form. She could manage that much, she hoped. After he left, much more quietly than he'd arrived, Donna stretched out in her bed and took a deep breath. Her bed smelled different now, like her grandmother's house and Josh. It was a surprisingly easy smell to fall asleep to.


End file.
